


Far Beyond the Beaufort Sea

by viciouswishes



Category: Firefly, due South
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2006-02-01
Updated: 2006-02-01
Packaged: 2017-10-11 19:41:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 591
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/116212
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/viciouswishes/pseuds/viciouswishes
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Constable Benton Fraser was the first Canadian and the first member of the RCMP to be cryogenically frozen. Really, it had been an accident, an accident which took approximately four hours to explain, so he preferred not to go into it at this juncture.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Far Beyond the Beaufort Sea

Constable Benton Fraser was the first Canadian and the first member of the RCMP to be cryogenically frozen. Really, it had been an accident, an accident which took approximately four hours to explain, so he preferred not to go into it at this juncture.

When he woke 400-and-some-odd years later, the world had changed dramatically and Fraser was even more thankful that his grandparents had taught him Chinese. Earth was more of a myth than a fact, and Fraser became something of a cultural expert on the Earth-That-Was. And while he made it a policy to avoid lying, he was okay with playing up the importance Canada took in shaping the first version of the Alliance.

For the first time since his childhood, Fraser found himself truly alone. Even his faith in the once promising Alliance had faltered since the broadcast of the report about the true origins of the Reavers. Soon after, Fraser quit his posting in Londonium and decided to explore the universe.

And that was how he came to be traveling on a ship called Serenity.

The crew of Serenity was smaller than he'd expected for a ship this size. "You Alliance?" Captain Reynolds asked him during their first dinner together.

"I'm an office of the RCMP," Fraser said. Except that the RCMP no longer existed, but his reflexive answer hadn't faded. "No."

"Good." Captain Reynolds scooped more protein onto his place. "Then we shouldn't have a problem."

And they didn't as Fraser always seemed to be useful. When a smuggler tried to pull one of them, Fraser noticed that the man looked look up and to the left and remembered his father's advice.

The crew trusted Fraser and that made him smile. After Fraser pushed Zoe out of the way of a pilot-less transport, she told him about Wash and he told her about Victoria. Zoe rested her head on his shoulder and slept.

Fraser helped Kaylee with parts for Serenity, recalling the times that he'd helped Kowalski with the GTO. He shared some of his grandmother's healing secrets with Doctor Tam, even if the kind doctor didn't know what a moose was. Jayne didn't even mind when Fraser gave him a lecture on gun safety and how sleeping with Vera wasn't perhaps the best thing.

He felt like a family member when Inara employed his cooking talents the night she brought back a plentiful harvest from one her more generous clients. Fraser made baklava for desert and Kaylee bit into it with a smile on her face.

"Ding hao," Kaylee said and grabbed another piece before River could.

Zoe brushed the crumbs from her lips. "Agree, Fraser. You'll have to cook more often. Certainly better than the Captain's protein meals. Not that they're not creative, sir."

"Zhe zhen shi ge kuaile de jinzhan," Fraser said, hoping he didn't lose the inflections that his grandparents had taught him while frozen. "Bié kè qì."

Inara placed her napkin over her mouth to stop a slight giggle, which spread to Zoe and Kaylee with her mouth full of baklava.

Jayne shook his head. "Frase, your Chinese stinks worse than xiongmao niao."

"Jayne's gotta point there," Captain Reynolds added.

Fraser felt a blush spread through his face. How many others had he spoken to and they hadn't pointed out that he was rather rusty. "Well, you see, I..."

River placed her hand on his back. She leaned closer to him and whispered, "Don't worry, Benton, I'll teach you. Just don't listen to your father. He doesn't remember his Chinese either."

**Author's Note:**

> Translations from [the Chinese Cheat Sheet](http://www.greatestjournal.com/users/living_impaired/120078.html) and [English-Chinese Dictionary](http://www.pzlabs.com/chinese/u.html).
> 
> Ding hao. - Very good.  
> Zhe zhen shi ge kuaile de jinzhan. - This is a happy development.  
> Bié kè qì - You're welcome.  
> xiongmao niao - panda urine


End file.
